who controls your basket?

In recent years, Shopify has been leading the e-commerce industry with a market share of 10.32% in 2024. As a result, it has embraced the ever-evolving technology landscape. From automated product descriptions to chatbot customer service, Shopify has undergone AI integration. As artificial intelligence begins to integrate into all aspects of our shopping, you can’t help but wonder… who’s really in charge?

Shopify and Artificial Intelligence: Who Really Controls Your Shopping Cart?

Shopify, the world leader in e-commerce, relies on artificial intelligence

E-commerce is booming, and it’s no wonder that Shopify consistently ranks at the top of the industry. As one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the world, Shopify has grown a loyal customer base of nearly 4.8 million active sites and has websites in over 175 different countries. Additionally, as of 2024, 26% of all e-commerce stores will be Shopify sites. Shopify makes running an e-commerce business incredibly easy. Customizable themes, built-in and third-party payment systems, and store-specific SEO support are just some of the reasons why customers stay with your company over and over again.

Artificial intelligence in Shopify

Not only is Shopify a leader in the e-commerce world, but thanks to its AI integration, Shopify has an unstoppable and unique competitive advantage. As most people know, the Shopify platform has everything a seller needs to set up a store. However, the company didn’t develop everything itself. Instead, it created a large developer marketplace on the site. This is great news for AI software developers looking to get their skin in the game on one of the largest platforms in the world. In summer 2023, Shopify introduced over 100 new AI-powered features to its site, including Shopify Magic and Sidekick. Shopify Magic writes product descriptions, talks to customers, optimizes product photos, and generates emails that turn into FAQ pages. With Sidekick, sellers can better understand their sales as AI explains any trends and extracts insights and data from sales and website traffic.

Implications of AI integration

Artificial intelligence is integrating into every aspect of our lives. At this point I don’t know up from down and most of us can’t tell what’s real and what’s fake. Honestly, it’s exhausting. In fact, most of the sites I researched on this topic were AI-generated! It’s no surprise to me that one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the world uses artificial intelligence in every possible way. It’s hard to grasp the lack of authenticity that’s going on.

Think about it; Sellers use Shopify to sell their goods, then generative AI writes product descriptions and enhances product photos. Then, with AI programs like Shopify Magic, you get ads based on data and sales trends. We sell something from a program generated by artificial intelligence. Let’s say you have a problem with a product you’ve sold. There is a high probability that you will be greeted by an AI chatbot that will solve all your problems. Not only can this compromise the quality of customer service, but it can also involve a serious lack of empathy and human understanding.

On a completely different level, generative AI is also used to create fake e-commerce websites. This is something I will discuss in a future blog post.

Do we really have control?

So the question arises, do we really have control over our stroller? I dare say we are not that anymore. Shopify’s AI programs generate content and target ads to us based on data. It’s not a revolutionary idea, but where does it end? When it comes to online shopping, any sense of control has basically disappeared.

I confirm that artificial intelligence is a great tool. Tool is the key word. But here we enter the fourth dimension. The entire online shopping process is taken over by artificial intelligence. And at the current pace of e-commerce growth, there is no escaping it.

However, the appropriate role of artificial intelligence would be to support and augment human efforts, not replace them entirely.

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